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  1. Introduction and Overview

  2. Before the Campaign

  3. Planning Your Campaign

  4. Building Your Campaign Organization

  5. Developing Your Message

  6. Funding Your Campaign

  7. Delivering Your Message

  8. Contacting and Mobilizing Voters

  9. Complying with the Law, by Karen Getman

  10. Conclusion: Winning the Right Way

Candidates don't have to sling mud to win. This state-of-the-art guide combines the latest research on voter attitudes from UC Berkeley's Center for Campaign Leadership with advice from leading campaign strategists on how to run clean, honest, effective campaigns for public office in California. Rather than echo the conventional wisdom that negative campaigning works, this guide shows candidates how to plan a campaign, build an effective organization, develop and deliver a clear and compelling message, and mobilize voters on election day - all in a way that promotes public trust in both the candidates and the offices they seek.

The Center for Campaign Leadership has built an ethical framework for teaching campaign politics to young Americans, one that transcends party or ideologies and unites young political aspirants in a common goal-building ethical leadership and improving campaign politics. If we do not clean up campaign politics all of us will continue to work under a cloud of suspicion, where the public always assumes that we serve our own interests before the country's and the ends always justify the means."
- U.S. Senator John McCain


Supplementary Materials
Sample Fundraising Letters - Letter 1, Letter 2, Letter 3
Sample Press Releases - Release 1, Release 2
Campaign Plan Instructions
Sample Fundraising Plan
Sample Budget

Links to Additional Resources
California Fair Political Practices Commission
Institute for Local Self-Government

Copyright 2005 Berkeley Public Policy Press